Charles Krauthammer, "Legacy or bust": Narcissism Gone Wild

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Charles Krauthammer begins his latest Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Legacy or bust" by observing:

"Last Saturday, Barack Obama gained the second jewel in his foreign policy triple crown: the Paris climate accord. It follows his Iran nuclear deal and awaits but the closing of Guantanamo to complete his glittering legacy."

Krauthammer goes on to note:

"Yet the climate deal brought back from Paris by Secretary of State John Kerry turns out to be no deal at all. It is, instead, a series of carbon-reducing promises made individually and unilaterally by the world’s nations.

No enforcement, no sanctions, nothing legally binding. No matter, explained Kerry on “Fox News Sunday”: “This mandatory reporting requirement . . . is a serious form of enforcement, if you will, of compliance, but there is no penalty for it, obviously.”

If you think that’s gibberish, you’re not alone. Retired NASA scientist James Hansen, America’s leading carbon abolitionist, indelicately called the whole deal “bulls---.”"

Further observing that Obama's nuclear deal with Iran is unsigned and pointing his finger at two Iranian ballistic missile launches which contravene the would-be agreement, Krauthammer concludes, "Obama will ignore, downplay and explain away any violation, lest it jeopardize his transformative foreign policy legacy." It should be pointed out in this regard that Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said on Wednesday, "Since day one of the endorsement of the JCPOA, our different tests have not [been] postponed even for a single day, hour or moment; rather we have not even felt any doubt about declaring them." Deghan also stated, "We will purchase weapons from wherever we deem necessary and we are not waiting for anyone's permission; if we deem necessary we will sell our weapons and we will do this without paying attention to any resolution."

Sickening? You bet, but that's not all . . .

In an editorial entitled "On regime change in Syria, the White House capitulates to Russia," The Washington Post caustically declares:

"For four years, President Obama demanded the departure of Mr. Assad, who has killed hundreds of thousands of his own people with chemical weapons, 'barrel bombs,' torture and other hideous acts. Yet in its zeal to come to terms with Mr. Putin, the Obama administration has been slowly retreating from that position. On Tuesday in Moscow, Mr. Kerry took another big step backward: 'The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change,' he said. He added that a demand by a broad opposition front that Mr. Assad step down immediately was a 'non-starting position' — because the United States already agreed that Mr. Assad could stay at least for the first few months of a 'transition process.'"

Obama, however, is not only capitulating to Russia. He is also capitulating to Iran, which has sent fighters from Hezbollah, its Lebanese surrogate, and its own Quds Force into Syria to fight the rebels. Consider the message that this is sending to America's allies in the Middle East: American overseas credibility and deterrent power have effectively been eviscerated.

January 20, 2017 cannot come too soon.

A Republican Attack on Muslims? What About a Democratic Attack on the Truth?

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Sorry, but it's once again time to be politically incorrect.

Yesterday, in an editorial entitled "The Republican Attack on Muslims," The New York Times declared:

"The Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is drawing criticism over the bigoted comments he has been making recently about Muslims. It is well deserved, and is not a matter of 'P.C. culture,' as Mr. Carson has claimed. Nor does Mr. Carson represent some minor fringe element in the Republican Party.

This latest sordid mess to arise from the G.O.P. nomination contest touches on bedrock American values, constitutional principles and American history. It reflects a pernicious habit among the leaders of the Republican Party to play with fire by pandering to an angry, disaffected and heavily white base by demonizing selected minorities. Muslims are just the current target."

Muslims are just the current target of Republicans? Let's put it to the test. As reported by the Pew Research Center in an August 30, 2011 article entitled "Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism," eight percent of US Muslims believe that suicide bombing can "often/sometimes" be justified. Now that's a relief! If you randomly place 100 American adult Muslims in a room, only eight of them think that it's "often/sometimes" justified to blow you to bits.

But why rely only on Pew? In a June 2015 poll of 600 Muslim-Americans, The Polling Company determined:

• If shariah conflicts with the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, 33 percent answered that shariah "should be considered supreme."
• 36 percent declared that Muslims in the US should be free to choose courts or tribunals in the US that apply shariah law, whereas 15 percent opined that Muslims in the US should be subject only to shariah courts.
• 29 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that "violence against those that insult the prophet Mohammad, the Qur'an, or Islamic faith is sometimes acceptable."
• 25 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that "Violence against Americans here in the United States can be justified as part of the global jihad."
• 19 percent believed that "the use of violence in the United States is justified in order to make shariah the law of the land in this country."
• Nine percent believed that the beliefs of the Islamic State are "correct and consistent with shariah."
• Eight percent believed that the beliefs of al-Qaeda are "correct and consistent with shariah."

Having perused these numbers, are you feeling much relieved? Fabulous! So now let's move away from the so-called Republican attack on Muslims, and have a look at Democrats attack on the truth - and I'm not referring to Hillary's burgeoning email scandal or attempts to manipulate intel to support the Obama administration's effort to downplay the danger of the Islamic State. Rather, let's have a look at what Iran has been saying in recent days about the United States and Israel in the wake of Obama's nuclear deal with Khamenei, and what Senate and House Democrats are choosing to ignore.

As translated by MEMRI, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan stated on Lebanon's Mayadeen TV on September 1, 2015 (my emphasis in red):

"Hizbullah does not need us to supply them with rockets and arms. Israel and the US need to know this. Today, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Hizbullah have the capability of producing their own resources and weapons themselves. Nevertheless, we shall not refrain from supporting them. They received the technology from us and from others, and today they produce them themselves. I officially declare that under no circumstances will we refrain from providing material and moral support to Hizbullah, or to any group of the resistance to the US and Israel. We say this loud and clear. We have declared this officially, and we intend to continue on this path."

In addition, as observed by Yigal Carmon in a September 22, 2015 MEMRI brief entitled "Iran Openly Declares That It Intends To Violate UNSCR 2231 That Endorses The JCPOA":

"In a July 20, 2015 interview on Iranian Channel 2, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister and senior negotiator Abbas Araghchi said that there had been tough bargaining between the Iranian and American delegations over the issue of the arms embargo on Iran and the sanctions related to Iran's missile development project. 'The Americans sought their inclusion in the JCPOA, claiming that otherwise they could not face criticism from Arab countries in the region. When they said that they could not lift the sanctions altogether, we told them explicitly that in that case there is no agreement. We told them that the national security issues are non-negotiable and that we will not accept an agreement which continues the embargo on weapons and the sanctions on missile development. In the end, the Americans said, We will put the issue of the embargo and the missiles in the UN Security Council Resolution separate from the agreement.'"

However, as further observed by Carmon, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Zarif, and Araghchi have "emphasized that Iran has no intention of abiding by UNSRC 2231," which incorporates the JCPOA and places restrictions on Iran's missile development.

More? No problem. As reported by Adam Kredo in a Washington Free Beacon article, Ataollah Salehi, commander of Iran’s army, declared on Tuesday:

"Israel only barks, no matter how much weapons are given to [it], we are going to destroy them, we will promise this task will be done."

But heck, why should we believe anything that these Iranian leaders are currently saying? You see, if we believe President Obama, these gentlemen are all going to experience an epiphany and profess pacifism over the coming decade. Moreover, what's more important to Senate and House Democrats, Obama's legacy or the prevention of a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile attack on the US and the survival of Israel, America's only true ally in the Middle East? I suppose we now know the answer.